The Tempest: 3 Differences Between the Play and the Movie

The nucleus of the plot in Shakespeare's The Tempest revolves around Prospero enacting his revenge on various characters who have wronged him in different ways. Interestingly enough, he uses the spirit of Ariel to deliver the punishments while Prospero delegates the action. Prospero is such a character that can concoct methods of revenge but hesitates to have direct involvement with disillusioning his foes. In essence, Prospero sends Ariel to do his dirty work while hiding his involvement in shipwrecking his brother, Antonio, from his daughter, Miranda.

The Tempest is about an ousted Duke of Milan ,Prospero, who has been living in exile on a remote island for the past twelve years with his daughter Miranda. He is a powerful magician, who happens to be the master of Ariel and Caliban, and a guy who really likes his books. When Prospero's enemies wash up on shore, he uses his black magic to seek revenge and restore himself to power. The Tempest belongs to the genre of Elizabethan romance plays. It combines elements of tragedy with those of romantic comedy, and like one of Shakespeare's plays previously, it asks deeper questions that are not completely resolved at the end. The tone that seeps into the play is one of wonder, amazement, and admiration. Mystery is still present , but the magic performed is not black and scary. The version that seems to grasp my attention more, would have to be the Utah Valley University interpretation because it takes Shakespeare’s main purpose and tone but shows it in its own unique way. Furthermore, with its silly drunkards, the play has a certain lightness to it and even the so called killers of the King tell hilarious jokes and are lighthearted. But there is also the tone of revenge and reconciliation in the play. We feel a revenge burning in Prospero while, at the same time, a wish for forgiveness and reconciliation with those who have wronged him.

The Tempest was Shakespeare’s last play that was written shortly after England colonized Virginia in 1609. Throughout the play, there are many different references to imperialism and colonialism within the characters. The Tempest analyzes the imperialistic relationships between England and America but applies it to personal human interaction between the central characters. The island gives newcomers a sense of endless possibilities like claiming the land for themselves because of the belief in the Great Chain of Being and the seventeenth century being an age of exploration. The idea of ruling a colony lured many people into the idea that having that kind of power over a large group of people is attainable. Master-servant relationships are

A different representation of Sycorax’s in the adaptation reflects a change in cultural values with a feminist attitude. Taymor’s The Tempest is faithful to the setting and plot but deviates in order to create characters relatable to the real world of the audience, particularly regarding discriminatory ideologies against women. Taymor’s The Tempest changes her audience’s understanding of the representation of gender stereotypes between protagonists and antagonist. By making Prospera magic darker, Taymor “blurs the opposition between Prospero's supposed white magic and Sycorax’s black magic” (Vinson 53). Most significantly, Taymor’s inclusions and exclusions of lines and representations of Sycorax make the character more sympathetic because it softens the representation of Sycorax. Including explicit similarities between Prospera and Sycorax’s as a witches. There is a space generated for an excuse of their magic and explanations for their exile. This further makes Sycorax sympathetic because “her identity and role as an evil witch are reshaped and she can begin to be understood not as an implicit antagonist” (Vinson 53). The result of Taymor’s adaptation is not plugged by gender stereotype and She put efforts to remove gender stereotypes embeded in the characters. By removing stereotypes, Taymor allows audiences to

                 Miranda's schooling in The Tempest shows the audience the conflicting arrangement white women in the Shakespearean drama as well as Shakespearean times are forced to act within.  Paul Brown points out that "the discourse of sexuality…offers the crucial nexus for the various domains of colonialist discourse" (208) and the conduct in Prospero manipulates his followers' sexuality is the mainstay of his power.  The Miranda-Prospero relationship servers to represent a sort of patriarchy, which is unarguably the system many Renaissance women and women of Shakespeare's time found themselves in.  It is thus unsurprising that Prospero controls Miranda and her sexuality as well.  The

The most notable new aspects in the play were the length, tone, and year it was written in. Cesaire’s A Tempest is much shorter and easier to read than Shakespeare’s original. It is clear that it is geared much more towards the modern day, and more accessible to the modern reader. In addition, it was written in the late 1960s, during the civil rights movement. These aspects

Shakespeare's "The Tempest" forms a world within itself. Within this world, many topics regarding government, power and colonization are addressed. Shakespeare tackles the discovery of new places and races, the relationship between the colonized and the colonist, old world ideologies on new soil, as well as theories on civilization and government. These aspects at the core reveal a very clear struggle for political power. Prospero's first major monologue creates the foundation of such a theme. In 1.2 lines 30-175 Prospero tell his story recounting the usurpation of the power he had as Duke of Milan, then quickly

   A production of The Tempest should emphasize the idealized methods in which Prospero uses magic to solve the problem of revenge which is so prevalent throughout his tragedies, perhaps the production might be a direct allegory for the magic of the theatre itself.   In this conception of the play, the scattering and bringing together of the characters in the script is significant in that theatre also could be said to bring people together and allow them to share in an experience of emotion, magic, and finally, of resolution. In this way the production could be used as a vehicle for conveying the idealistic virtues of forgiveness, compassion, and of course knowledge. In his book, A

In “The Tempest” movie, all the comedic aspects from the play were accurately created in the movie. For example, choosing Russell Brand to play Trinculo enabled the movie to be funny as the play was. So Taymor’s movie was kind of a new version of the play that was written by

Specifically, Prospero uses his love for Miranda to hide under the shroud of patriarchy. “The Tempest” opens with a storm in the first act and by scene two, the reader learns that it is Prospero who has commissioned the storm. First, one must examine why Prospero summoned the storm. When Miranda presses her father as to why the people in the ship are in the tempest, he says that “I have done nothing but in care of thee” (Act 1, Scene 2). In some aspects, Prospero is acting against patriarchal ideals because he summons the storm. Directly after Prospero declares the tempest in the name of Miranda, he debases himself. Prospero draws attention to his fall from grace and says "your humble father who lives in a poor little shack" (Act 1, Scene 2). Within these scenes, Prospero is reinforcing his patriarchal role. Furthermore, Prospero is constructing his salvation through Miranda's desires. The tempest has been summoned to maroon Ferdinand and Alonso and ensure Prospero's prosperity off the island. Prospero’s love for Miranda serves only towards his assimilation back into a position of

The island of magic and mystery that Shakespeare creates in The Tempest is an extraordinary symbol of both the political and social realities of his contemporary society, and of the potential for a reformed New World. Shakespeare’s island is a creation which allows the juxtaposition of real and idealised worlds, and shows his audience both what they and what they ought to be. The seventeenth century was a time of ideological upheaval in Europe, with Medieval ideas of a hierarchical and ordered society being challenged by Renaissance thinkers. For the dynastic powers, including England under Elizabeth I, colonialism was an important opportunity to realise territorial ambition and prove religious

Zhenni Zhu Professor Stieber HSS 1 23 December 2014 Virgilian Motifs in Shakespeare’s The Tempest Shakespeare’s comedy, The Tempest, introduces a love story between Miranda, the daughter of the former duke of Milan, and Ferdinand, the son of the king of Naples. While Miranda and Ferdinand’s love story resembles the pattern of Dido and Aeneas’s love story in Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid, Shakespeare’s modification of the old material in the new context alters the tragedy into a happily-ever-after, giving the readers an opportunity to reassess the characters through the new context.

       The Tempest is a classic example of Shakespeare’s dichotomized notions of right and wrong within the context of racial inherencies, a social commentary of the colonialism of the New World. An important theme in the play is the racial differentiation between Caliban and the other antagonists, primarily, Prospero, who comes to the island and enslaves Caliban to enforce his own rule. This relationship, as portrayed through the play, is a reflection of the historical social and racial tensions that existed between the colonizers of New Europe and the Native Americans and is illustrated through the language employed by Shakespeare and the interactions that take place between the characters. The Tempest

Another aspect of Cesaire's play that proves it is written from the African-American perspective of colonization is the language used.  "The Tempest" is written, obviously, in Shakespearean language, a European form which is sometimes difficult for the modern reader to understand.  Cesaire sees writing in an European language as a representation of Shakespeare's favoring of the Europeans in their domination of Americas. Therefore, to contradict this viewpoint, "A Tempest" is written in a more modern language, leaning more towards "ebonics" than the

On the other hand, A Tempest was written in 1969 which was with in the period of African American Civil Rights Movement. It strikes significant the ideals of Malcolm x, the modern english and the way language is used. The reader can identify more with Caliban then in The Tempest.